Brief

This was a semester long project focusing on practicing user interface design and getting hands-on experience of UX design in the fields. The team was asked to define a problem in the area our interest. As all of our team members were avid travelers, we decided to focus our project on travel.

What is ClaWould?

ClaWould is travel assistant mobile application which is targeted for users who have trouble making plans for travel.

Since these users have trouble digesting the information they find on the web, we created an interface where users are provided with curated information customed to their needs.

An itinerary is autogenerated based on the user’s schedule and the distance between the destination and can be easily edited.

Background

In the past, travelers had to rely on mostly guidebooks to get information about their destination. Now, as the internet became accessible to everyone, travelers are able to gather useful and up-to-date information from reviews online. The problem is that now there is too many information. For some, searching and organizing information is easy and enjoyable. However, for some people, this is a difficult task.

Role

Prototyping, interaction design, visual design

Group Work

Research, brainstorming, user testing, presentation

Duration

Six weeks with a team of two

Description

Research Process

User Research

(1) Field Research

We performed field research using design research methods, such as task analysis, and 1 on 1 interviews. For task analysis, we asked interviewees to imagine they are going on a vacation to a certain destination and observed their process. We also invited people who traveled abroad recently to conduct a 1 on 1 interview on their experience.

Through field research, we learned that

(1) there is a need for planning service for people who have trouble getting information organized.(2) some people feel anxious about not having an overall plan.
(3) some people find it overwhelming when presented with broad information.

Based on the characteristics, we categorized and analyzed each type of travelers and created personas for our service.

(2) Market Research

Our team conducted market research and competitive analysis to analyze other services that are related to our project. Through paper research, we learned that

(1) the structure of all of the current travel planning services provide the user with a broad pool of information and that(2) this does not help people who find planning difficult.

Therefore, we concluded that our service should limit the information shown to the users and provide more depending on their needs.

Research Analysis

Through field research, we learned that there are three types of travelers based on their characteristics.

(1)“Stick to the Planners” enjoy planning their schedule and budget in great detail.(2) “Nomad travelers” do not plan because they enjoy the uncertainty.
(3) “Anxious Hamlets” can not make a detailed plan because they find it hard to make decisions. They try but tend to give up while browsing through endless amounts of information.

(1) What they say and What they think

One of the interesting findings was that what people say and what people actually think are different. When we asked each person whether they plan ahead for their travel or not, the answers were divided into two. The first group said they plan because it makes them feel comfortable. The second group said that they don’t because it is annoying. However, as we went deeper into research, we found out that some of the people who answered that they don’t plan, actually try to but fail.

(2) Task Analysis

We asked the interviewees to imagine that they are going on a trip next week and record what they do during the week. We gave them a set budget, destination and the length of travel. When we were analyzing their behavior, we noticed that some of the people fail while trying to choose between several choices, whereas some people don’t even try to plan. This is how we were able to find out what they say and what they do are different.

(3) Behavior

After a full analysis, we organized the behavior, needs and wants and created them as a list to decide on the core functions and direction of our service. As we performed our research, we decided that the focus of our service should be on the Anxious Hamlets. The Nomad Travelers had no need for a planning service and the Stick to the Planners were able to use the existing planning services which give the users a broad range of information.

The Anxious Hamlets, as the famous saying, “To-be or Not to be”, can’t make decisions. These are the people who want to make a rough, overall schedule for their travel. But they tend to give up because they get overwhelmed with the amount of information they can find on the web. They tend to say they like to travel without any schedule but the truth is, they can’t make one.

Primary Persona

Based on research analysis, we created a detailed persona to organize the frustrations and needs of the user. With this persona, we brainstormed how to help the user reach their goal through our service.

Concept

After research analysis, we derived the keywords for designing our services based on the persona. The keywords were simple, intuitive, effortless, friendly and customizable. From these keywords, we came up with three design concept.

Branding

claWOULD is a composite of “cloud” and “would”. Our services suggest what the users might want to or would like to do. Cloud moves around the world so we chose this as our visual metaphor. To give it a friendly look, we added a character to our branding.

Key Functions

The key function of this service are

1. Flashcard Recommendation2. Automated Itinerary Generation

(1) Flashcard Recommendation

After setting their preferences upon sign in, information related to their destination and preferences are provided to the user as a form of a flashcard. This helps users focus on one information and decision at a time. They can quickly make their decision by tapping the card and adding them to their itinerary. If they want,

On the flashcard, the price is shown to the user in three color; red, yellow and green. If it cost too much compared to the budget of the user, it is shown as red. The budget can be set on the top of the screen.

They can quickly make their decision by tapping the card and adding them to their itinerary. If they want, they can look into more detailed information on the internet.

(2) Automated Itinerary Generation

When the user chooses to add a flashcard to the itinerary, ClaWould automatically adds it to the duration of travel the user set upon sign in. The identifies if the card is related to lodging, food or places to visit and organizes them based on the distance between each item. If it is close, it adds it to the same day.

After adding, users can easily modify the order of each item by tapping and dragging. If the user needs to add a transportation or if it the itinerary is impossible due to a time limit, ClaWould shows an alarm to the user.

Users can also change their budget and their set budget and current budget is shown on the top of the itinerary window.

Final Prototype and Motion

Learnings and Limitations

Through this project, I learned why user research has to be performed using different methods. For this project, the most interesting fact that I learned was that sometimes what users say and what users actually do can be different. Without task analysis, our team would have never found out the pain point the users were feeling.

Limitation of this project was that we didn’t consider the technical feasibility of the service.